JAŠA – At the dawn of yet another age of absurdity: Composition No. 4 | Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb
JAŠA – At the dawn of yet another age of absurdity: Composition no.4
a spatial and performing intervention
Museum of Contemporary Art Zagreb
Thursday, 14 June 2018, 19:00 - 21:00
Organised by MSU + UGM Maribor Art Gallery + WE.ARE Institute
“What does it mean to come home? Am I going towards new home or an option of home? Way before the tragic flood of devastated people who had to flee their homes, on foot through the Balkans, the region has seen its share of complete destruction and human tragedy. I was ten years old, when the country I was born into, broke into pieces. What used to be peaceful, colorful and above friendly, became the platform of all unleashed hatred, aggression, and brutality. For years I struggled to cope with nonsense, manipulation and power that has divided the country into smaller sections. Newly imposed borders made us strangers, almost obliged to follow the mentality of division, segregation, and nationalism. Nevertheless, the rebellion starts from within, and it is here where walls can actually collide, every day, brick by brick.” (Jaša)
At the Dawn of yet Another Age of Absurdity: Composition no. 4 is a new edition in a series of performative interventions that Slovene artist JAŠA developed in past two years as a revision and continuation of the script for his 29 weeks long performance at the 2015 Venice Biennale. Compositions No. 1, 2 & 3 saw JAŠA unravel in New York, Folkestone (UK) and Atacama desert (Chile) on his own, what he did for 29 weeks, with a group of people in Venice, the same issues, the same questions. Compositions are now continuing in Zagreb and Barcelona.
In essence, the composition(s) remain the same: ephemeral, gestural, a form of resistance, only now reacting to a different context, as it molds in response to a delicate and menacing political climate. The core is an architecture of resistance, which manifests actions through presence and language. Actions and interventions are spread throughout the performance, reacting to the local, the temporal, a simplicity is fueled by the urgency of the now, a repercussion in time and space, we must recoil quickly, react to what's happening around us, being immediate and relevant. (Reactionary—immediacy is the medium. Relevancy—say it out loud, now, instantly, perform, proceed.)
In light of our deep ambivalence about our global socio-economic situation, the question of the political commitment, in art and elsewhere, seems to be calling out for alternatives that do not shy away into the usual 'underground.' The poetical, the individual act of defiance, a voice, sound, a repeating gesture as a poetical stance and standing resistance.
Composition series was established in 2017, curated by Mitra Korasheh:
Composition No.1
Korasheh + Grunert, Tania Grunert Gallery
Supported by WE.ARE Institute
New York
Composition No.2
HOP projects Folkestone
Supported by WE.ARE Institute, Performance space, Adelaide Bannerman and David Thorpe
Folkestone, UK
Composition No.3
La Wayaka Current
Supported by WE.ARE Institute & Embassy of the Republic of Slovenia Buenos Aires
Atacama desert, Chile
Composition No.4
Muzej suvremene umjetnosti Zagreb
Organised by MSU, UGM Maribor Art Gallery, WE.ARE Institute
Zagreb
JAŠA (Mrevlje-Pollak; born 1978, Ljubljana) lives and works in New York and Ljubljana. One of Slovenia’s most prolific and critically recognised contemporary artists, JAŠA is driven by his rhapsodic interpretations of situation, narrative, sculpture and performance, transforming spaces into experiences, driving them toward their poetic and aesthetic potentials. He has had numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been featured and participated in many international group shows. He represented Slovenia at the 56th Venice Biennial in 2015.
